Definition
A Latin term meaning "whence," "wherefrom," or "whereof," used in legal Latin phrases and writs. UNDE appears most commonly in two distinct legal contexts:
1. As a particle in Latin writ and pleading formulae, contributing to phrases such as unde rectatus est ("whereof he is accused") and et unde dicit ("and whereupon he says"). In this usage, unde functions as a connective or relative adverb introducing a clause that references the ground or source of a claim, accusation, or statement.
2. As the opening word in the phrase unde nihil habet, identifying the specific form of the writ of dower used when a widow had received nothing from her deceased husband's estate. The full writ — often indexed simply as "unde" in older digests — was the standard remedy for a widow asserting her dower right where no portion had been assigned to her.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Unde" does not appear as a standard English word. In heraldry and related technical contexts, it describes a wavy or undulating line or ordinary.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Waving or wavy; — applied to ordinaries, or division lines."
The heraldic and legal uses of "unde" share a Latin root but are entirely unrelated in meaning and application. A researcher encountering "unde" in a legal source should not import the heraldic sense. The legal term is Latin for "whence" and belongs entirely to the vocabulary of writs and pleading.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Unde nihil habet: The canonical writ of dower for a widow who had received no dower assignment whatsoever from her husband's estate. Distinguished from the writ de dower assigned, which addressed disputes over an already-assigned portion. Anderson's Dictionary of Law cross-references this form directly under the heading for "Dower, Writ of."
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will rarely encounter "unde" as a standalone entry; it most often appears as part of a compound Latin phrase, a writ name, or a pleading recital. The key navigational challenge is recognizing which use is operative in a given source.
In historical English common-law records — year books, plea rolls, and close rolls — unde appears as a routine connective in Latin formulae. Burrill's citation to Rot. Cl. 3 Edw. I and Yearb. M. 1 Edw. II places the term firmly in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century record tradition. Researchers working in that stratum of the Law Mind corpus should treat unde as a grammatical signal rather than a substantive term, and look to the surrounding phrase for legal meaning.
In the dower context, unde functions as a near-index term. Older digest and abridgment compilers frequently listed the writ of dower by its opening word or by the phrase unde nihil habet, so the term may serve as a finding aid in itself. A researcher tracing dower remedies in the corpus should check both the "Dower" and "Unde" headings in any historical dictionary or digest, since coverage is split inconsistently across sources.
No modern statutory or procedural survival of this term is expected. Its research value is essentially historical and documentary.
Historical Dictionary Support
Anderson and Burrill handle the term differently in ways that reflect their respective editorial strategies. Anderson dispatches it with a pure cross-reference to "Dower, Writ of," treating unde as an index word rather than a substantive entry — useful for navigation but offering no independent analysis. Burrill provides the fuller treatment: a short but precise Latin gloss ("whence; wherefrom"), several distinct uses with period record citations, and acknowledgment of the pleading formula context. Together the two entries cover the main valences of the term, but neither discusses the heraldic homophone, leaving a potential gap for researchers who encounter the word in a mixed legal-heraldic document. Neither source addresses the term's decline or the transition away from Latin pleading, which limits their usefulness for tracking when and how these formulas dropped from regular use.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Dower; Writs, Common Law